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Saturday, October 3, 2009

Capacity Inc. and Lorillard Lofts- Please Stop By to Help a Good Cause!

Some of you may be aware that my work will be featured in the Lorillard Decorator Showcase in Lexington, Kentucky beginning on October 23rd. Nine of my Transformations pieces (some of which appear on this post) will be hung in the 'Urban Sanctuary' loft; all of these will be for sale, and another one will be sold in the silent auction. This is a wonderful project which benefits Capacity Inc., a non-profit organization working toward improving the lives of women with regard to employment. The following article by Sherry Piersol explains:

Upon visiting Lexington, Kentucky’s first eco-friendly decorators showcase one will have an opportunity to reconnect with self, home and the community. “Naturally Chic” will focus on creating comfortable, stylish, elegant and creative loft living, naturally! This is a great opportunity to obtain eco-friendly, affordable, new trend insight for anyone’s home. Most importantly the $10.00 ticket per person goes to a great cause!
“Naturally Chic” is a result of a new international non profit dedicated to the advancement of women, Capacity Inc, www.capacityinc.org.
We began with two goals, first to introduce the community to examples of environmentally friendly, urban development and décor. Lorillard Lofts was selected because living spaces were created from the renovation of an old tobacco warehouse, see www.coolspaces.com.

Second, Capacity Inc. is a cutting edge organization which advocates transforming women of today into women of tomorrow. Our current fundraiser is dedicated to Career Advancement for Women. According to Sherry Piersol, founding board member, “This will include; mentoring, skill sets assessments, education and employment for unemployed women. The Lorillard Lofts Decorator Showcase will also serve as a model for other cities worldwide.”

The mission of Capacity Inc. is to provide capacity building opportunities for children, girls and women worldwide. Our goal is to create a deep culture change that will solve specific problems facing the female gender. Jessica Piersol is the board secretary and an Anthropology student. “I have learned about the disparity of the world and am shocked to discover that the single most abused, poverty-stricken, neglected and inhumanely treated group of people remains to be women. The gender crosses ethnicities, state boundaries and continents as a suppressed commodity. As a woman I can no longer stand by and do nothing to impact this world in a positive way. I know that I am not alone in the emergence of an insatiable desire to make a difference. My friends, ages 18 to 28 have expressed reciprocal feelings. We do not want to be ‘Generation Y,’ the generation of video games and apathy. We want change; we want a better world for our future and our children.”

Audra Cryder, Capacity Inc. board treasurer is an International Student recruiter at the University of Kentucky. Through her travels she has gained first hand knowledge regarding the inequities facing the female gender worldwide. “Education and training programs can equip women with skills they need to improve their capacities to start and grow businesses and to fulfill their potential as economic development agents. This, in turn, can generate social and economic benefits for women, their families and society as a whole.”
Our mission can best be described as “social franchising”. We all know how quickly successful business franchises grow and expand to offer their services throughout communities globally. What if successful social practices were replicated worldwide as quickly as fast food franchises? Our goal is to take the need to help others and fuse it with networks of people who can put real change into people’s lives. The change of empowering women and their children will make our Lexington community thrive and spread throughout Kentucky, then all across America and eventually the world.

At the very top of our agenda is addressing the need to reform the work culture in the United States. We continue to identify the need to be healthier, to be environmentally conscious, continue our education, focus on the family and volunteer to help others. However, quite often we fail to go straight to the source to address why we are not able to accomplish the above. Capacity Inc. found that woman more than anyone, want everyone to have “the time” to; shop and cook economically, to exercise (be more active) become healthier, more educated and focus on self, family, community and the environment. As a community developer, Sherry Piersol believes the solution lies within each employer’s efforts to become creative, flexible, sensitive and socially responsible to their employees. “Our organization has identified the best work/life balanced programs in the world and are making ourselves available to employers to assist them in investing in all their stakeholders; employees, customers and the community. Employers will improve their bottom line by reinventing their human capital and creating “balanced beings”. Meeting the needs of employees/individuals through holistic and progressive work/life initiatives creates productive, happy and healthy human beings.

Sharmon Davidson

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True Adventures of an Art Addict

My earliest memories are of a preoccupation with careful examination of the world around me, and with putting those images on paper in the form of drawings. These two impulses are what drive me still, and are the genesis of my true adventure - finding out, and communicating through line and color what cannot be expressed in words. It seems important to me to spend time staring at the sky, to put my hands in the earth, to watch things grow. It's important to read books. I have always been terrible at categorizing things, because the more closely I looked, the less able I was to discern where one thing started and another left off. The vocabulary of symbols I use in my work has developed as I sought to express my deep belief in the unity and connectedness of every thing in the universe. I want to express my experience of this mystery as honestly and authentically as I can. Please join me on my journey.

I'm currently represented by the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen Gallery in Berea, Kentucky. Most of the work seen here is available for purchase directly from my website, where high-quality prints are also available.If you have questionsabout my art, or about purchasing a piece, pleasecontact me by email, or through the contact page on my website. I truly appreciate each comment, and am grateful to everyone who follows me. Thanks for stopping by; I hope you enjoy your stay!